Back again - sorry Alana!!

Sorry I have been AWOL again.  Life as usual getting in the way.  My Dad isnt keeping very well at the moment and we are waiting for some test results to see what is going on.

I had joined a newbie CJ on UKS just before my Dad had a funny turn and of course I had to do a 300 mile round trip to try and bring a car back from Newcastle.

All this meant I got a bit behind with organising my CJ and I am grateful to Rebekah the host and my fellow CJers for their patience as I was a bit late with the posting of the Newbie one.  It went in the post finally the other day so I hope Jellibean (Cal) gets it soon.

I chose the theme of Hollywood Icons for my CJ and for my own entry chose to base this on Audrey Hepburn as both my daughter and I admire her for her style, elegance and poise.  My entry turned out to be much more simple than I would normally do but I am pleased with it.  I only hope everyone else doesnt think its too minimal.  I am really looking forward to seeing how others interpret my theme and to working on their CJs.

I am off to my local crop on Saturday and hope to get my entry for Crafty72 (Lynn) CJ done.  I have an idea of what I am going to do so hopefully it will turn out okay.

Blooming Cameras!!!

I had meant to blog this post a couple of days ago but my camera is not playing ball.  It had been set to print some pics using the pictbridge setting and is now stuck and refuses to upload using the USB cable.  I just remembered this morning that I had bought my Parents the same camera as me (thought it would be easier if they had any probs with it) and so round to theirs I went and put my card in their camera and managed to upload my pics to my laptop.

What have I been up to this week then - well at long last and way behind schedule I caught up with my Mini Book of 2010 which Jane at UKS started in the Inspirations and Challenges Section.  Here is my cover and my layouts for Jan, Feb and March.

I am off to a small family wedding today - my cousin and his fiancee and getting married after being together for around 10 years and after the birth of three children,  It is just a small affair in the local Registry office and then back to the house for champagne and nibbles.  It should be a good day though and hopefully my camera will play ball and I can get some piccies.

Easter Hols

Just back today from a very relaxing few days away at my parents caravan which is in Beadnell, a pretty quiet wee village in Northumberland.  Weather was actually pretty good condsidering the forecast.  Had plenty of quiet walks on the beach and a chance to recharge my batteries, just what was needed.  Back to reality with a bump tonight though.  Never mind.  Will try my best to get a bit of crafting done.  Did take some stuff with me but its my parents caravan and with both of them, myself and my 16 year old daughter there was really not enough space to get much crafting done.  Did finish the cover for my first CJ though which I am joining in with on UKS. 

The paper is a Bo Bunny basics paper which I really loved the colour of, I matched it up with some brown card onto which I stitched a flourish using one of the Bazill In Stiches templates.  I used a dymo to create the title on some coredinations green card which I then sanded - the photo does not show this up to its best. The green trim was from the first Gottacraft Dabble kit and matched the paper perfectly.  The brown chipboard frame was from the latest Cleo Crafts monthly kit.  I need to do my rules page, my sign in page and a double layout and then its pretty much ready to go.  I am struggling a bit with the rules as this is my first one and I really dont know what to say.  I gather I need to make tags of some sort for the sign in page but again I'm not quite sure what size to use as I dont know what information needs to go on these.  I am also unsure as to whether there should be a sort of introduction page to say why you chose the theme of the CJ.  Never mind I'm sure I will get the hang of it eventually.   I hope so cos I have also joined in a newbie CJ on UKS - in for a penny in for a pound.

Okay I am shamed into this by my so called online friends!!!!  Alana has challenged Sandra and I to blog once a week (hmmm we will see) and Sandra has promised to nag me into submission in the tidying of my craft pit (sorry room).  Sneaky Sandra slipped in a blog post while I was at work - how below the belt is that - only kidding Sandra.

Not much crafty going on here at the moment due to all the extra working I am doing as we reach the end of the financial year at work.  I am so looking forward to having a break for Easter when I am off to my parents caravan which is at Beadnell in Northumberland for a few days.  I love that area, I have been going there for over 40 years and it really is my wee bit of paradise.  Fingers crossed for some decent weather although it is not looking likely as we are a bit snowboard here.

I habve just taken  part in my first swap on UKS with my team which I joined recently, the All new lost girls - so far I haven't earned any points for them but have enjoyed chatting with them.  The swap is to decorate and fill a Cooks matchbox with embellishments.  I had to post to Daphne whose favoutite colours are green and purple so I tried to theme the contents and the decoration.

I received my matchbox from Alison, it was beautifully decorated and filled with lots of "little treasures".

 I also joined in time to join in a circle journal which will be starting in April.  This will be my first time of joining in a circle journal and I am so looking forward to it.  My theme is to be "My Happy Place" and from this post I bet you can guess where mine is.  I have cut board for the front covers and am playing around with some card and patterned papers.  I will post once I have decided what I am doing finally.

I also got some  more wool and have started to knit a short sleeved one button cardi - I have just started this but will post a picture once I have done a bit more. I will take it to the caravan with me and hopefully get a bit done there.

Went to the crop  yesterday and had a great time.  They really are such a friendly bunch.  I didnt get much done but did make a Mothers Day card and box for my Mum for next weekend.  I  used paper and card from the March Cleo Crafts kit - Prima flights of fancy - Im afraid my camera doesnt do it justice.  The base of the card is Coconut cream Coredinations stamped all over with a flourish stamp layered up with gorgeous cream prima paper with writing on, Rouge Coredinations card and a strip of lovely meshy ribbony stuff which also came in the kit.  The flower is made from circles of tissue paper which I inked with distress ink as it was too pale, scrunched up, opened up again and layered up and joined with a brad.  I then separated out the layers and coloured the edges with a watermelon paint dabber.  The word Mum was cut with a sissix alphabet, embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder and then sanded lightly to show the core colour.

Box  is made from corrugated brown card also coloured with the same paint dabber and another tissue paper flower.  I may add some ribbon to finish it off.

I also covered a cook's matchbox for a matchbox embellishment swap Im joining in with my team but I wont post that just now in case the recipient sees it.

Im off to the newsagents this morning for the latest issue of Craft Stamper mag so that I can read the final part of Kate Crane's  (the Kathryn Wheel) masterclass on art journalling.   I have made a cover for my art journal and cut the pages but I'm not happy with the cover and may start it all again.

Hello everyone.  We have had snow here again this week.  Completely sick of it and hope we do't get it for the long spell we had last time round  Really suffering now with being fed up of winter and so looking forward to the first signs of Spring arriving,

I have decided to join in with a small challenge on UKS organised by JaneH.  Its making a mini book of 2010 with a double layout for each month.  Typically I didnt notice this until recently so I'm well behind already.  Had a look at Shimelle's Document 2010 but didnt think I could gather up enough photos and bits and pieces each month to justify that.  Have decided not to buy any new stash for this one so will see if I can use up some of the every increasing stash mountain.  So far I have only made the front cover which I have put on here but it's a start.  Will try to get January and February pages done this coming week.

I have been wanting to do some art journalling for a while now but didn't really know where to sart.  I picked up a copy of this month's Craft Stamper last Saturday and Kate Crane (The Kathryn Wheel) whose blog I love had part 2 of a masterclass in Art journalling. I was so impressed with the article which was about making your pages I ordered a back copy of last months so that I could read Part one which was all about making your cover and your actual pages.  Hopefully I can make a start on that soon.   I have most of the things already apart from gel medium and watercolour paper which I got this weekend from a localish art shop.  Will post the results when I get going.  I have one or two ideas but we will see how these turn out.

Knitting

Well here's the result of my first pair of wrist warmers.  Very very easy to knit and I've knitted a few pairs so far for friends.  Love the wool which is Sirdar Crofter chuncky very easy to knit with.  Am going to knit a cowl/neck warmer thingy next.

I was finishing these off at work today when one of our surveyors decided he would like a pair for going out surveying as they would keep his hands warm whilst allowing him to complete his paperwork and take his samples.  So looks like I will have to get some plain black wool and do some more - luckily they dont take long at all to knit.

Thanks everyone for the comments on the start of my mini book - comments mean so much to us all I think.